let the string of posts about summer fun begin!

After being a bit murky all winter about anything I was actually doing (besides school, and lots of reading during the holidays), I think it’s time to share the AWESOMENESS that is my life right now.

Summer is treating me well so far.  I’ve hiked the longest I’ve ever gone in my life (a 9-mi., 3500-ft. hike one day, followed by a 12-mi., 3000-ft. hike the next), I’ve biked the farthest I’ve ever been in my life (35 mi…. not all that impressive of a number, but still: 35 miles one day, transcontinental bike ride the next), and I feel like I could do anything this park throws at me.  (Apart from, you know, actual mountain climbing.  I’m still not that badass.) 

One damper on my spirits is I’d forgotten how furiously social everything in this park is.  The seasonals here roam around in packs, going into town to go dancing, going out drinking, going out hiking, and there are always fractured groups as volatile as in high school.  It’s like one big, grown-up summer camp, with horny 20-somethings all mashed together in cliques for one long, hot summer.  I’m glad to be back—I love deeply knowing the land and living in the mountains—but sometimes I dread being social at the end of the day.  After talking to people at the visitor center for 8 or 9 hours, the last thing I want to do is go home and talk more.  I find myself claiming to everybody that I’m a hermit—I’m antisocial—I hate going out—etc.  None of the above is true, but I value my time to be alone. 

That means that I’ve spent beaucoup de time this summer doing what I love: reading, writing, practicing the banjo, being alone in the woods, enjoying a good beer, cooking, having a good conversation over dinner, riding my bike longer and faster, hiking up to kick-ass places in the park, and doing a good job at work.  All that said, I’ve gotten to hang out with my favorite people plenty this summer, and I’m looking forward to the next few months as well.

Here’s a (rather poorly done) mosaic shot to keep you tantalized: this is the most gorgeous place in the park (but shh! it’s a secret… at least until I tell you more about it in a future post).